Texas Land

Bush and the Texas Land Grab Bush and the Texas Land Grab July 16, 2002 By Nicholas D. Kristof Editorial Op-Ed To submit a Letter to the Editor: letters@nytimes.com Democrats and media hounds are baying under the wrong tree. The point in President Bush's business career where he took outrageous shortcuts was not at Harken Energy, but rather when he was grabbing land for a new baseball stadium in Arlington for his Texas Rangers baseball team. Mr. Bush broke no laws. Neither do the overwhelming majority of corporate executives. The cloud over the business world comes not so much from lawbreaking as from avaricious bruising of the public interest. The challenge is not catching criminals but injecting public scrutiny into a culture of cronyism in which executives, accountants, regulators and "independent" board members all ooze empathy for each other. When Asia had its economic crisis in 1997-98, Americans properly trashed its "crony capitalism." But we suffer from the same affliction ourselves, and President Bush will not address the issue seriously because cronyism has been his way of life -- the Bushes call it loyalty. I have a stack of court documents from Arlington that portray the "sordid and shocking tale" of the Rangers stadium, as one lawsuit puts it. Essentially, Mr. Bush and the owners' group he led bullied and misled the city into raising taxes to build a $200 million stadium that in effect would be handed over to the Rangers. As part of the deal, the city would even confiscate land from private owners so that the Rangers owners could engage in real estate speculation. "It was a $200 million transfer to Bush and Rangers owners," complains Jim Runzheimer, an anti-tax campaigner in Arlington. William Eastland, a leading Republican in Arlington, is also outraged, and puts it this way: "You're using public money for a private purpose." Mr. Eastland was a Bush delegate to the Republican National Convention in 2000 but still believes that the Bush group behaved shadily and against the public interest. Local voters overwhelmingly approved the deal, so maybe we shouldn't get so exercised by star-struck local officials giving $200 million to rich baseball owners. But the most unseemly part of the deal was that Mr. Bush and the Rangers' owners conspired with city officials to seize private property that would be handed over to the Bush group. "A group of wealthy and influential people threatened and traded their way into an unprecedented takeover of government power and private property in an awesome display of greed and avarice," charges a lawsuit by the landowners, in what strikes me as a fair recitation of events. Another suit charges that the deal "can only be described as astounding, unprecedented and blatantly illegal." A copy of the secret agreement among Mr. Bush and the other Rangers owners shows that they intended to make money not just by running a baseball club but also by land speculation. For example, one owner found a nice chunk of land and sent a memo suggesting that it "sounds like another condemnation candidate if you want to work the site into your master plan," according to the court documents. Another of the owners' internal memos casts a proprietary gaze on a property and declares: "We plan to condemn this land." For a group of financiers to go around town admiring properties and deciding which to seize through the government power of condemnation so that they can acquire free land and speculate on it is appalling. Even Kazakhstan would blush at such practices. Horace Kelton, for example, owned land that the Rangers wanted. The owners got Arlington to seize it, with the city paying less than $1.50 per square foot even though it had previously paid $10 a square foot for other land nearby. "It was an extremely low price, and that's why we had a court case that lasted seven years," Mr. Kelton recalled. Eventually, his family got $11 a square foot. In fairness, Mr. Bush was simply being a hard-nosed businessman. He did a great job leading the owners' group, and it's hard to take seriously the caricature of him as unintelligent when he led the Rangers so lucratively. Indeed, his $14 million profit on the Rangers financed his entry into politics. But it's also a sordid tale of cronyism, of misuse of power, of cozy backroom money-grubbing -- a more pressing threat to American business than outright criminality. LINK to source

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Denver Real Estate - Find Homes in Denver at REALTOR.com Denver Real Estate Find Homes For Sale In Greater Denver, Colorado 4487 Listings in this area Select an area of Denver Select from the list below to search for homes and real estate in Greater Denver DCW-Douglas County West JFS-Jefferson County South JFW-Jefferson County West (Golden) JSC-Jefferson County South Central MCC-Clear Creek County MCP-Mountain Conifer Pine MEN-Mountain Evergreen North MES-Mountain Evergreen South MJC-Central Jefferson County Mtn MJS-South Jefferson County Mtn MPC-Mountain Park County MPE-Mountain Evergreen East Other Areas To select two or more, hold down control key (command key on a Macintosh) while clicking mouse. or... Enter the MLS # Search in popular metros: Atlanta | Austin | Boston | Chicago | Dallas | Denver | Houston | Las Vegas | Long Island | Los Angeles | Memphis | Miami | New York City | Orange County | Palm Beach | Phoenix | Sacramento | San Diego | Seattle Site Map | Corporate News & Info | Contact Us | Advertise With Us | Join our staff Terms of Use and PrivacyPolicy . 1995- NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS and Homestore, Inc. All rights reserved. Equal Housing Opportunity REALTOR.com is the official site of the National Association of REALTORS and is operated by Homestore, Inc. REALTOR -- A Registered collective membership mark that identifies a real estate professional who is a member of the National Association of REALTORS and subscribes to its strict Code of Ethics. Inquiries regarding the Code of Ethics should be directed to the board in which a REALTOR holds membership.

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Century 21 Real Estate: home buying, home selling, financing and property listings. español Put My Century 21 to work for you, simply register your email address and create a password. Once you're registered, you'll be able to • save property descriptions • store your search criteria • file agent information • build a custom library Find out more or register now! Already registered? Sign in . -- Welcome to Century 21 Real Estate Century 21 Real Estate is your online resource for home buying, home selling, financing and property listings. Whether it's a house, condo, or any other type of property, we can assist you with your real estate needs. Search for Properties Looking to buy a new home, condo or any other property? Search thousands of properties in our real estate listings. Search Property Listings » First Time Homebuyers Guide » View Our Buyer Service Pledge » International Century 21 Real Estate LLC is part of the largest real estate referral network in the world - with over 110,000 brokers and sales associates in over 30 countries and territories. Access our world offices today» Sell a Property Let our real estate agents create a customized marketing plan to sell your property. List your Property » View Our Seller Service Pledge » View Mortgage Rates View current mortgage rates, apply for a home equity loan, crunch numbers with home mortgage calculators and more! Apply for a Mortgage Now» Use Our Mortgage Calculators » Find an Office or Agent Find and contact a CENTURY 21 Office or Agent to handle your real estate needs. Find an Office or Agent » Quick Vote! Your vote counts! Let us Know Where do you spend the most time? Bedroom Living Room Kitchen Bathroom Dining Room ©2005 Century 21 Real Estate LLC. An Equal Opportunity Company. Equal Housing Opportunity. Each CENTURY 21 Office Is Independently Owned And Operated. All rights reserved. Information appearing on this site has been produced by or obtained primarily from Century 21 Real Estate LLC and its representatives and from CENTURY 21 franchisees. Century 21 Real Estate LLC is not responsible for the accuracy or completeness of the broker information, sales associate information, listing information or other information provided by our franchisees appearing on or through this site. Such information has been provided by independent third parties who are solely responsible for such content. Certain conditions and restrictions apply to System promotions. Terms and Conditions of Use.

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BuyMyself - Canale, IRED Attitude & News Home Directories Int'l Realty US Realty BuyMyself Choosing A Real Estate Agent By Stephen M. Canale, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA There's a common saying in the real estate industry regarding the vast number of agents in the business: "If you don't have any friends who are agents, then you probably don't have any friends at all." With so many agent out there, how can you make an intelligent decision? Do you choose a friend, neighbor or coworker? Should you work with an agent at a large firm, a small firm, a franchise or an independent? While there's an exception to every rule, and every marketplace has its own nuances, here are some solid rules to apply when you want the best representation to protect your interests. Demand Experience The real estate profession is plagued by high turnover. This creates a workforce that is made up of many newcomers. While there are brand new agents with good intentions, why trust one of the largest investment you'll ever buy or sell to someone without experience? Always look for an agent with at least two years of experience. Anyone still in the business after two years has probably learned at least the fundamentals of real estate. Look for Commitment Another problem we have in the industry is a large number of part time and recreational salespeople. These folks have either retired from some other career, work in real estate seasonally or are earning a second income for the family and honestly don't need to work full time. No matter how long they have been in real estate, their lack of full-time commitment makes it impossible for them to keep up with the vast changes in law, marketing and business practices that are occurring in the profession today. If an agent isn't working at least thirty hours a week, fifty weeks a year, look for someone else. Consider Education In the majority of states, the requirements for real estate licensing are substantially less than those for cutting hair. In Michigan, for example, all that is required is a forty-hour class and a multiple choice test. You cannot rely on licensing to indicate competence. And, unfortunately, many agent's real estate education ends with their pre-license education. While there are numerous advanced real estate education courses available, the only technical and competence based program available nationwide is the Graduate, REALTORS® Institute (GRI) series, which is administered under the direction of the National Association of REALTORS®. A REALTOR® who completes the fifteen eight-hour modules, and passes examinations, may then use the designation of GRI. While only 15%-20% of agents have earned this accreditation, it should not be too difficult finding a GRI in your marketplace as they will commonly print the designation behind their name in advertising as well as on letterhead and business cards. Conduct Interviews Before you hire an agent to help you buy or sell a home, you should interview at least three agents in person. In order to do this, first get recommendations from friends, family and neighbors. Then look on the web, in homes magazines and the local newspaper to see what kind of marketing the various companies are doing in your area and call a few that impress you. Then make brief fact-finding calls to determine which of the agents on your list are full time, experienced and either hold the GRI designation or are at least working aggressively toward it. You will probably need to call ten to fifteen agents in order to find three that are worth interviewing. The interview itself need not be a formal one. It is simply an opportunity for you to meet the candidate and explain your needs; and to determine whether you would be comfortable working with them. Ask whatever questions you like, or simply explain your goals and listen carefully to what they propose to do for you in meeting your needs. The decision If you follow the suggestions above, you will find that there are excellent agents working for firms both large and small; both franchised and independent. Thus, the real decision must be made based on the competency of the individual agent you will be working with on a day-to-day basis. Stephen M. Canale is President, Broker/Instructor of Acclaim Residential Marketing Ann Arbor, Michigan | IRED Home | Search IRED | © 1995-2005 IRED.Com, Inc All Rights Reserved